Contents

History

Early life

Okada was born as Sato Kayo (佐藤 佳代) on August 22, 1967, the second daughter of the Satō family. The family later moved to Nagoya. In elementary school, Okada loved to read, especially comic books, and she was a talented artist. In junior high school, Okada wanted to become a singer and applied for every possible audition. She was rejected every time until she was finally accepted to a TV talent program, Star Tanjō! on Nippon Television, singing Kitahara Sawako's MY BOYFRIEND for the audition, and Nakamori Akina's Slow Motion motion for the final round, which she won in March 1983.

Career

Yukiko during the production of the drama, The Forbidden Mariko.

On April 21, 1984, Okada released her first single, "First Date". She was known as "Yukko", after nervously mispronouncing her name when she first appeared on the TV music program, The Best Ten.

That year, Okada won Rookie of the Year, and was awarded the 26th Japan Record Awards Grand Prix Best New Artist Award for her third single, -Dreaming Girl- Koi, Hajimemashite.

Okada played the leading role in her first television drama Kinjirareta Mariko (The Forbidden Mariko), in 1985. Her 1986 single Kuchibiru Network, written by Matsuda Seiko and composed by Sakamoto Ryuichi, reached number one on the Oricon weekly singles chart dated February 10, 1986.

Death

Yukiko Okada on April 7. 1986, one day before her death. (The film poster is for the movie Rocky IV)

Around 10 o'clock in the morning on April 8, 1986, Fudaka Tokuo, the manager of the Sun Music building went to check on Okada after she did not answer a phone call. Residents of Okada's building were complaining of a gas smell, the manager then found that the gas was coming from a unattended stove from Okada's apartment, he soon found Okada in her closet, crouching and sobbing with her wrists slashed, along with notes; which talked about Okada wanting a relationship with actor Toru Minegishi (died 2008), but he rejected her. The notes ended with the words "I wanted to see him again. I'm sorry for being so selfish. My heart has nowhere else to go."

Fudaka then took her to a nearby hospital, her injuries were soon treated. He then asked where she wanted to go, to which she muttered "...To the office... " (Sun Music Building). He had then had asked why she tried to kill herself, to which she replied "I thought of someone... (possibly Minegishi) I felt that I had done something so horrible, that I wanted to die.."

While Fudaka and the staff were discussing how to avoid a media scandal, Okada ran up the stairs, took off her shoes, and jumped off the roof of the front side of the building, resulting in her instant death.

It was 12:15 PM, JST.

Her death resulted in many copycat suicides in Japan, soon christened with the "Yukiko Syndrome".